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Detroit Free Press Sports Writer

The Southfield junior’s commitment to Ohio State was just too quick in mid-February.

He hadn’t really seen other schools, especially Michigan and Michigan State, and he hadn’t seen enough of Greg Mattison.

When he finally committed to Michigan on Saturday, becoming the 10th player in the 2014 class, he realized Michigan had two things over the Buckeyes and Spartans: a defensive line coach who could help get him to the NFL and a degree that could serve him well after it was over.

“Coach Mattison is the coach who impressed me the most — he coached Ray Lewis and the greatest defense in the NFL!” said Marshall, rated as a four-star defensive end by some service and a three-star by Rivals.com. “He can prepare me to get to the next level… I wanted to have a coach that knew what he was doing. Coach Mattison is an unbelievable guy, he coached the best. Even when he was at Florida, he coached people into first round draft picks on the defensive line.”

At 6-foot-4, and 235 pounds, working his way to 245 by the season according to Southfield coach Tim Conley, his potential is obvious and he wants to learn. That’s one reason he connected with U-M defensive end Frank Clark, seeing the possibilities.

“He’s a physically imposing kid and two of the things he does really well is his first step is really quick and he can run well,” Conley said. “At that size, the length of his arms, coming off the edge it’s really difficult to slow him down.”

He’s even more confident in this decision because his two cousins, one who played college football at Northwestern and one at Youngstown State, guided him through the process, asking questions on visits Marshall wouldn’t have considered himself.

Coaching stability mattered with all three of his finalists — and hurt Syracuse and Cincinnati in his process — and he saw no reason to wait, saying he knew for a month U-M was the right fit.

“I felt like the right time to do it,” he said. “My mom liked Michigan. My grandma liked Michigan.”

And, despite his praise for MSU coach Mark Dantonio, who he called one of the best coaches he’s met, he dropped a dagger.

“The best players from Michigan go to Michigan,” he said.

On Saturday, that was enough to get a hug from Brady Hoke and have the rest of the U-M coaches jumping up and down.